In orer to investigate this mystery, we're going to investigate this case of pocket mice evolution using computational models. Finding the genes underlying adaptation has been. Researchers noticed that rock pocket mice with a dark fur coat were more common on the dark lava flows, whereas the mice with light colored fur coat were more common on the light-colored sand. A key problem in evolutionary biology is to connect genotype with phenotype for fitness-related traits (1, 2). dark-colored mice that live on black lava rock.light-colored mice that live on sandy soil.Today there are now two forms of pocket mice: Evidence of evolution: Grades 13-16 An organisms features reflect its evolutionary history. Question 4 Recall Darwins postulates (see Lecture 2 if you need a reminder). They are an easily understood example of population genetics. Pacific pocket mouse, Perognathus longimembris pacificus. Rock Pocket Mouse Evolution Rock Pocket Mice Rock Pocket Mice inhabit the Sonoran desert of the Southwestern United States. Then, a series of volcanic eruptions spewed a river of black lava more than 40 miles long that wove right through the middle of pocket-mouse territory. Lava flows created huge patches of dark rock among the surrounding light-colored sand. a Department of Ecology & Evolutionary Biology, University of California, Los Angeles, CA. This kept the mice hidden from their predators (mainly owls).

Ancestral pocket mice had light-colored fur coats that blended in with the rocks and sandy soil that was prevalent in the region. The American Southwest is a fantastic place to study rock pocket mice with different fur coat colors.

Pocket mouse evolution